1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a digital computer, and more particularly, to a language-directed computer.
2. Prior Art
A digital computer generally executes one or more sequences of instructions which represent computer programs. These instructions, by way of example, perform manipulations of data stored in memory devices of the computer. Often, the computer programs are originally written in a high-level programming language and then undergo a translation process which causes the programs to be represented in a form interpreted by the computer. The architecture of the computer determines the form in which these programs are represented to the computer. In addition, the architecture defines the representation of data in the computer and the operations which are available to name and manipulate that data. In most computers and computer systems, there is an extreme difference between the manner in which data and algorithms are represented in the languages used to write computer programs and the form into which these items must be transformed for execution on the computer. This difference is termed the semantic gap between the languages and the architecture. In a language-directed computer the semantic gap is reduced, that is, the representation and manipulation of objects in the source programming language and by the architecture of the computer are similar.
Object oriented computer architectures which directly support data abstraction, information hiding, modularity, etc., are known. An object oriented computer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,120.
As will be seen, the present invention provides a new computer with novel architecture, particularly useful for a fourth generation computer language such as Ada.